How Cities Can Help Save the Planet

This morning's proceedings at the New York Climate Summit were a good way to start the day: full of hope and optimism. Rather than getting frustrated at the seeming inability of the world's national governments to do anything about climate change, the assembled mayors and other municipal officials seemed convinced that, collectively, they were willing and able to take on a large part of the challenge themselves.

New York's Dan Doctoroff kicked it off, explaining how his PlaNYC started by looking how to solve problems related to energy usage, congestion, transportation, livable streets, and generally the ability of the city to survive an expected influx of 1 million new inhabitants. It turned out, he said, that nearly all of the ways to address these issues -- and save money at the same time -- involved "going green".

London's Ken Livingstone then said that cities produce 3/4 of global carbon emissions, which means that cities can and should take the lead in terms of tackling climate change issues. "It is in cities that the battle to tackle climate change will be won or lost," he said, calling for a democracy in terms of carbon emissions: those who emit too much now must drastically reduce their emissions, while developing cities with much lower per-capita emissions "should plan for stabilizing their emissions in the future".

Interestingly, municipal governments don't only seem to be well ahead of federal governments on this issue; they're also playing a crucial role in encouraging the businesses and residents of their cities to get up to speed as well. Richard Daley of Chicago knows that developers and unions are not exactly famous for being green; he said that he's now implemented a system whereby they can get their construction permits much more easily if they're constructing green projects.

David Miller of Toronto was a fount of statistics: Greenhouse gas emissions attributable to the municipal government have been reduced by 40% since 1990, he said, largely thanks to a profitable initiative which captures methane from landfills. He also said that if 20% of the buildings in Toronto which could have green roofs actually had them, then summertime temperatures in the city would be reduced by 2%.

That's not the only way to reduce energy consumption, either. Everywhere else in the province of Ontario, summer electricity consumption went up last year; in Toronto it went down, thanks to a plan whereby if you reduced your consumption by 10%, then you'd get a 10% discount on your next electricity bill.

The cities can't do everything. George David, the CEO of UTC, noted that only 9 of the 50 US states have legislation which facilitates net metering. (That's the system whereby your electricity meter can run backwards if you put electricity back into the grid.) Some involvement from the state and federal level is definitely necessary. But the general feeling was that all the cities were asking was that the state and federal politicians simply get out of the way, and let them do their thing.

Right now, we're at the easy bit of reducing our carbon footprints: the point at which doing so can actually make money. I look forward to a future where living in a green city is a point of pride for all city dwellers, rather than just ones in places like Germany and Toronto. Right now, the New York mindset isn't particularly green. But all that means is that it's easier for New York to reduce its carbon emissions than for European cities -- which start from a much lower level -- to reduce theirs. Today's a day for optimism.